Nine Dead Movie Dissection

Spoiler Alert: I will be discussing the entire movie, along with key points and the ending. Please stop reading now if you plan to watch the movie. Thank You!

Hello! Welcome to the writings of Sabrina Screams. Your go to place for the going on's of the horror movie world. Our discussion today will be of the R rated (and rightly so) movie Nine Dead, starring everyone's favorite teenage witch, Melissa Joan Hart, and Lt. Lockhart from the ever infamous movie Full Metal Jacket, John Terry.

A wonderful synopsis I found of this movie is: Communication is the key for the survival of nine strangers who have been kidnapped by a masked gunman and told that one of them will die every ten minutes until they discover why they are there. Can they figure it out before they all die? Also, if you'd like to check out the movie's beautifully structured and enticing trailer, I will invite you to click the link right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0D9yqV3Aas

Sorry guys, I'm new here and have not figured out how to put videos. Maybe someday! Anyway, getting back to it, let's get on with the show!

So the opening of the movie is brought in quite ominously and we have virtually no idea what is going on. We see a masked man in a completely empty room, with some weapons such as guns and tasers. Cool beans! everybody likes some weapons, am I right? So the first few minutes of the movie (6 to be precise. I counted.) are of the hooded man snatching up his victims. We are to assume thus far that the hooded man is to be our antagonist of the movie, frankly because that's all we've got to go on. Sweet deal! A couple bar scenes, a strip club, and the obvious empty parking lot later, we are brought to our final destination of the empty room with no windows, and all of our abductee friends tied to poles. Not in the sexy way, either! They've been bound and gagged and have sacks over their heads. Our masked friend enters to remove the gags from all nine of our contestants heads, and tells them what their game is and the final prize. Tell them what they've won, Jerry! Anywhozles, the basics of the game are that our masked mad man is going to come back to the room every ten minutes and ask them why they're there. If they cannot answer why every single person is chained up in the dungeon chamber, essentially.. he's going to blow your head off. Ring the buzzer, and the game begins!

My disappointment with this movie (and trust that I do NOT have a lot) is simply the slack on the acting. You imagine a bunch of abducted people in a room, there's going to be lots of screaming, crying, and "why me's" going around. Well, that doesn't happen. What DOES happen are the macho man attitudes of "I'm gonna kill you" and such. My heart was only with one person through all of this and that was the poor Chinese woman who didn't speak a single ounce of English. Poor thing had no clue the entire movie. Moving on, of course, scary killer man ignores the threats and leaves them to each other to try to discuss what is happening. Not before throwing chalk to the ground. He's very thoughtful in case they want to write their memoirs before they die! Going around the room, it's unclear yet if anyone knows each other. However, our no faced killer has made it clear that they are all indeed connected. Clock's ticking! Time to figure it out!

So for their first ten minutes, all they do is yell at each other and try to consider what crimes they've committed. It's a pretty hefty list, let me tell you! Of our bunch, we have a priest (yes! A priest!!) and the gang interrogates him thinking he's a child molester. Strike one! It isn't the priest, but the man next to the priest that is the chomo. Sick. So of course when this comes up, the rooms attention is brought to him and all the death threats go to him. Not surprising. I'd kill a baby toucher any day. Our attention is cut to the lovely man in the sweater vest who states his name is Eddie. He grabs a chalk to try to write down any connections they have going. Abductee number three speaks up saying his name is Dean Jackson, then everyone's favorite witch states her name is Kelley and that she is a district attorney. A young man of the group says his name is Christian and that he knows the strip club owner. Says his name is Sully and that they used to sell meth together. Christian however got caught up and was thrown into prison. While we're all getting friendly together, the Father speaks up with his name. His name is Father Michael Francis, and he owns a church I guess. Anyway, next up is the handsome Dean Jackson. He states that he is a police officer, which sends the black man and Pedobear into a frenzy. They're completely convinced the whole thing is a set up to try to get them to commit to crimes. See, don't break the law kids. It'll make you paranoid!

At the end of our first ten minutes, The Mask enters the room and asks them why they are there. Unable to answer, he approaches frat boy Christian and whispers in his ear. Christian panics saying he wouldn't have guessed that and Mask shoots him in the heart. After dragging him out, it's on to round two!

At this point, all of our friends are in an uproar about why they are there. They start spouting out stories of all the awful things they've done. I think the most sickening one is Pedo who says that he was in prison for grand theft auto for five years. When Kelley asks if he's sure it wasn't molestation, he says yes because they couldn't find the body. Gut wrenching, I know.. We pan over to Leon who admits he used to steal from houses. Some commotion happens, including Eddie peeing himself. Finally, Jackson and Kelley admit to having had an affair which ended Jacksons marriage. Leon decides he's had enough and looks at "cool drink of water" (his words, not mine) Sully and proposes he smash his hand to break it so he can get the cuff off. After doing this, Leon makes a break for it. He runs into Mask and attacks him, taking his gun. Mask tells Leon that gun is empty, but the revolver he pulls out isn't. Leon takes OFF! He makes it down the hall before our lovely hooded friend shoots him in the back. After dragging him back to the room (yes, he's still alive) he chains him back up and asks his dreaded question. Nobody can answer, so naturally, he shoots Pedo in the chest. Not before whispering in his ear, of course. Pedo also tells Mask to have everyone move out of the way, he'd hate for them to die before Mask could get to them. (ding ding ding! Foreshadowing!)

So shortly into the next ten minute round, the Chinese woman becomes frantic. She quickly points at Kelley and draws a stick figure of a person wearing glasses. Kelley states she hasn't worn glasses in years and starts thinking about all the crimes she tried years ago. It hits her like a train hitting a boulder and she shouts "Mrs. Chan?!" So there we have it, we have the woman's name. Kelley then tells a story (bring on the flashbacks) about how she had locked a kid up who robbed her at gun point. Wade Greely. This gives us a name. So now the gang is thinking they have a timeline. The Father is uneasy in saying he can't help them (bit more foreshadowing) and Leon then tells the ruthless story of how he murdered his brother and dropped his body in a dumpster during Mardi Gras. He then says how he sold the rest of the drugs and money (more foreshadowing!) and then he starts crying. He asks Father if he could be forgiven, and Father tells him yes. Leon says that Mask has been plotting for two years so they all start thinking of what they were doing two years prior (duh.) Then boom! Time is up and in walks everyone's favorite killer!

So now we are into our fourth ten minutes. I'm not gonna write much about what they discussed because it isn't pertinent to the story, just that Sully admitted to killing a family in a fire and Jackson blinded a kid in a fight his first year on the force. Also, Eddie was accused of rape in high school by a chick he slept with when they were drunk. So we come back to Father, and he says that Wade didn't rob Chan. They go around arguing for a bit until Father finally spills. Christian had admitted that he robbed Chan in confessional which is why Father didn't go to the police. Which is why he's there. Kelley argues when everyone turns to her and says she sentenced the wrong guy. They then come Sully who is pissed because he's going to die for loaning Christian the 5k which is the reason Christian robbed Chan. Ding and 10 minutes are up!

Mask walks in and Sully is so pissed that he is dying over $5,000 dollars. He's screaming at Mask and we think he's about to get it WHEN... he points his gun at Eddie. He says it's Eddies turn but as he goes to pull the trigger, Father jumps out and gets shot in the chest, killing him. Kelley of course tries bribing Mask and telling him he can have whatever he wants if he lets her go. She calls him Wade in which his response is "I am not Wade Greely." Dun dun dun! Plot twist! So no we are back at square one in figuring out who's doing this!

They go around the room a bit, little unimportant, but they get the timeline of events figured out, which i'm gonna save until the end. The only people at this point they aren't sure of is Pedofuck and Eddie. So now.. Ten minutes is up once again. Mask comes in and shoots Chan. Kelley tries one more time by bringing her son up saying he needs his "mommy." Mask gets HEATED and tells her not to use her son that she never sees to her advantage. Then tells Jackson it should piss him off, too. So there it is, her son is Jacksons. Jackson and Kelley then get into it about how she got him there and she tells her bullshit story of how she planted Wade's DNA on the evidence to get him convicted for the crime. How Jackson is tied in? She had him put the evidence in the evidence room without him knowing. Ruthless. So they figured Pedobear must've known Wade in prison and that's when Mask walks in. Shoots Sully and exits.

So we come to the conclusion. Kelley confesses a story of how she was raped then murdered her attacker (the only time in this movie I will root for her!) and Eddie connects the perv stating he must've raped him in prison and gave him AIDS (here's where the foreshadowing fits!) then Eddie said at the time, he must've denied Wades request for an AIDS medication that he applied for because he was a *GASP* convict! So there we have it, the timeline. Ready?:

So then we figure out, of course, it is a vengeful dad. When Mask comes back in and they answer his question, he identifies himself. Tells his story, and hands the key to Kelley. She flips out, snatches his gun, and shoots Mask. Then she flips out and shoots Eddie and Jackson, essentially killing all of them. Not before Mask tells her that all of this was recorded and the police are already watching it. So Kelley takes off and that is where the movie ends.

Altogether, this movie is pretty amazing. Some of the acting could've been better, in my opinion, but when you put a bunch of clearly psychotic people in a room, shits bound to go down. I highly recommend, if you haven't yet, checking out this film. I give it a good 5 stars for storyline and concept. It's completely original, I've never seen anything like it before, and it's definitely worth the watch. Until next time, take care my darling horror fanatics and I will scare you soon!

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